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The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a historic event held at Max Yasgur 's 600 acre (2.4 km&2) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18 1969 . Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, NY, which is in adjoining Ulster County. To many, the festival exemplified the Counterculture of the 1960s and the " Hippie era." Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of this time period appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend. Though attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original Woodstock Festival of 1969 has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in music history and was listed on Rolling Stone 's ''50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll''.http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6085488/woodstock_in_1969 The event was captured in a successful 1970 movie, '' Woodstock ,'' and Joni Mitchell 's song " Woodstock ", which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young . INTRODUCTION Woodstock has been idealized in the American popular culture as one of peak events of the Hippie movement — a festival where nearly 500,000 " Flower Child ren" came together to celebrate. At the time, it held the record for the largest music audience in the world until the Summer Jam At Watkins Glen in 1973 held 100,000 more people. Hippie activist Abbie Hoffman crystallized this view of the event in his book, '' Woodstock Nation ,'' written shortly afterwards. Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and conditions involved, there were three fatalities: one from a Drug overdose; another due to an occupied sleeping bag accidentally being run over by a Tractor in a nearby hayfield; and a third when a festival participant fell off a Scaffold . There were also three miscarriages and two births recorded at the event. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many colossal logistical headaches. Furthermore, because Woodstock was not intended for such a large crowd, there were not enough resources such as Portable Toilet s and First-aid tents. Woodstock began as a profit-making venture; it only became a free festival after it became obvious that the concert was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had prepared for, and that the fence had been torn down by eager, unticketed arrivals. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (approximately US$100 today adjusted for Inflation ) and $24 at the gate for all three days. Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a Post Office Box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan . Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes. {Link without Title} Simon Warner's chapter "Reporting Woodstock" in the book ''Remembering Woodstock'', Ashgate Publishing, Andy Bennett, editor, May, 2004.''''' Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award."It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people. "Of course, 500,000 showed up." ALTEC designed 4 - 15 marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton a piece, stood 6 feet straight up, almost 4 feet deep & a yard wide. Each of these woofers carried four 15-inch JBL LANSING D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4 x 2-Cell & 2 x 10-Cell Altec Horns. For many years this system was collectively referred to as the WOODSTOCK BINS. PERFORMING ARTISTS AND SEQUENCE OF EVENTS Friday, August 15
''Baez Source:'' Arthur Levy, annotator of the expanded editions of the 12 Joan Baez CDs on Vanguard Saturday, August 16 The day opened at 12:15 pm, and featured some of the event's biggest Psychedelic and guitar rock headliners.
Grateful Dead's performance was plagued by technical problems, including a faulty electrical ground (which their roadie insisted on being fixed prior to the band's performance) and members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir reported getting shocked every time they touched their guitars. While bootleg footage and audio of this performance exists, the Dead called it their worst performance ever and they were left out of the movie. At one point, Jerry Garcia appears in the film holding a joint, saying, "Marijuana. Exhibit A."
location]] Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18 Joe Cocker was the first act on the last officially booked day (Sunday); he opened up the day's events at 2 PM.
CANCELLED APPEARANCES
REFUSED INVITATIONS
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